Last night was possibly the worst karaoke I’ve ever heard, excluding my rare efforts. One guy went for nearly an hour and there were people whistling and shouting at him. I can’t imagine that they were encouraging him because you could hear in his voice when he was fighting to keep hold of the microphone.
Sanity finally prevailed amidst cheers from the few still left. I was pleased I was in my room and not at the place.
The night before this, in Paksan, one guy in the room next to me coughed, hacked and spat for an hour. His effort was almost theatrical. Around 4am, he was vomiting with similar thespian aplomb and noise. Really, there was a bit of overacting that Jim Carrey would have been proud of.
So, there was another cough-hack-spit fest next door last night after the karaoke and at 4am I was lying awake, waiting for the encore which never came. I haven’t heard any of this before in Laos. I thought I was back on a Chinese bus.
I’ve now given up pretending that I want to avoid the heat and leave early, because I never do. Today was another relaxed start. I packed my clean bike and headed over the road for an omelette and rice breakfast. Coffee was out of a can today. I don’t think that the big city coffee culture in Laos has reached Vieng Kham.
Today, the roads were back to what I was used to. Quiet, with considerate drivers and waving yelling locals everywhere. What a change. It was immediately relaxing and I enjoyed the ride.
There were two sizeable hills before things got easy. I stopped at the top at a well appointed cafe with amazing views. Coffee culture has definitely reached here.
The downhill was pretty good, then I turned off to Kong Lor Caves. It’s 40kms of flat road from the turnoff and I’ll have to return the same way, to get back on the road to the Vietnam border.
After 65kms, I caught up to some schoolkids who wanted to race me. It was a load of fun, with laughs all ’round.
The village at Kong Lor Caves looks very laid back with not many tourists and not much of anything. There’s a very quirky restaurant built above goose and chicken areas and just a couple of others that I’m going to check out when things cool down. Apparently tourists are returning but it’s slow going. I saw about a dozen backpacker types on motor scooters today. They were probably doing the Thakek loop.
Before sunset, I walked around to get my bearings. Food options are pretty limited, I’m sorry to report. I was expecting more in a tourist area, but after being closed for a couple of years, I shouldn’t expect everything to spring back to life.
